For those less familiar with the plot, The Artist follows George Valentin (played by Best Actor nominee Jean Dujardin), a silent movie superstar whose career takes a major hit with the advent of the talkies. With a stellar supporting cast that includes Best Supporting Actress Nominee Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell and Malcom McDowell, the crowd-pleasing cinematic homage to Hollywood's early days has built on the positive buzz it garnered this past May at Cannes and now finds itself the front-runner for the film industry's most coveted golden statuette.

Now that you're caught up - check out the adorable blooper reel after the cut! Bonus points for the inclusion of everyone's favourite dog, Uggie. Turns out he's a bit of a diva...

As Cineplex celebrates 100 years of movie memories over the next twelve months, we’ll take a look back at some key moments, classic stars and technological milestones from each week in cinematic history, ones that helped shape and define the modern film industry into the memory-making marvel we view it as today.

So dig in with our second look back! This week's edition looks at Pixar, Shirley Temple, the old Hollywood studios, Fritz the Cat and more!

The actor best known for playing Jewish Puerto Rican student Juan Epstein on the 1970s TV show "Welcome Back Kotter" has died.

The Flynn & Son Funeral Home in Fords, N.J., says it was informed of Robert Hegyes' death Thursday by the actor's family. He was 60.

A spokesman at JFK Medical Center in Edison, N.J., told the Star-Ledger newspaper that Hegyes, of Metuchen, arrived at the hospital in the morning in full cardiac arrest and died.

Hegyes was appearing on Broadway in 1975 when he auditioned for "Kotter," a TV series about a teacher who returns to the inner-city school of his youth to teach a group of remedial students. They included the character Vinnie Barbarino, played by John Travolta and Gabe Kaplan as Kotter.

Lest you think that you have to greet your impending pregnancy with straightforward glee and tummy-rubbing anticipation, the upcoming ensemble comedy What to Expect When You're Expecting, based on the popular advice book series, has just released character posters showcasing a handful of expectant mothers who display a variety of reactions to the eventual birth of their child.

You've got your gung-ho super-prepared mom in JLo, the hard truth-spewer Elizabeth Banks, nonchalant hip mom Anna Kendrick, a happily endowed Cameron Diaz - who's sporting Madonna-level arm buffness - and newly lustful Brooklyn Decker who play the ladies with buns in their ovens. And with baby daddies in the from of Rodrigo Santoro, Chace Crawford, Chris Rock, Matthew Morrison and Thomas Lennon, What to Expect's abundant cast makes it the New Year's Eve of pregnancy comedies.

Check out the posters after the jump.

The "Friday Night Lights" are far beyond Taylor Kitsch now. These days, if he sees something bright on the horizon, chances are it is extraterrestrial.

"That's how I pick my roles," the 30-year-old British Columbian-born actor explained. "'Wait, is there aliens in it? Oh well, why am I doing it, why would you call me if there are no aliens in it?' That's basically how it goes."

He's joking, but it's true. Kitsch has leading roles in two big movies this year - Battleship and John Carter - that will see him leave the small town Texas football scene of the critically acclaimed "FNL" TV series for the big screen world of sci-fi.

First up is Disney's interpretation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel, released in March. John Carter sees Kitsch play a former military

Though Magnum P.I. may have popularized the strategically-unbuttoned, super-relaxed look with his floral-patterned shirts, he's not the only man who threw caution to the wind and decided to cover his top half with bold and bright petals while emanating a certain masculine edge.

Though George Clooney's cuckolded dad in the Oscar-nominated The Descendants can't boast the same levels of rampant testosterone as '80s-era Tom Selleck, he joins the great tradition of dudes donning a very specific article of clothing, made all the more appropriate because his character lives in Hawaii.

With the recent Oscar nomination for his strong performance as an absentee father, where he offers not one studly bon mot and plays against his dashing silver fox persona, it got us thinking about some of the most memorable big-screen instances of the Hawaiian shirt. And thus, a Top 5 list was formed.

Dig in after the jump.

With films like Taken and Unknown Liam Neeson has quickly become the guy you want to have with you when the stakes are high.

In his new film The Grey, the stakes don't get much higher than a team of Alaskan oil-drilling ex-cons who are faced with impossible odds when a plane crash strands them in the middle of the Arctic, leaving them to contend with the bitter cold, starvation and a pack of fierce, almost larger-than-life wolves.

Based on the short story "Ghost Walkers" by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers, The Grey reunites Neeson with his A-Team director, Joe Carnahan for a tensely-crafted survivor film that asks the question, "Who would you be when the chips are down?"

We recently had the chance to speak with Carnahan and actor Frank Grillo (Warrior, Edge of Darkness) and talked about surviving the cold, how your prepare for a survival movie and those giant wolves.

Watch the interview now.

See what he had to say about the movie and what we can expect from it after the jump!

After the Oscar nominations were revealed and we'd had a chance to figure out how incensed, indifferent or elated to be about the results, the conversation inevitably turns to what each actor or director was doing the moment the news dropped and the results are often obvious - sleeping, they ARE announced at 5:30am PST - or appropriately posh - Jessica Chastain was at the Armani Prive show in Paris when she got the call.

In addition to the gleeful reactions of those who have a chance to walk away winners on February 26, Tilda Swinton, unfairly overlooked this year, played off the snub appropriately Swintonly, stating she was just grateful for how far We Need to Talk About Kevin had managed to get: "I wasn't disappointed. I didn't know for hours, but someone was telling me apparently everyone else was disappointed. I am a good gambler, so I knew we were not really going to be in there. I am amazed that our little film got as far as it did." Classy.

Find out how the nominees took the big news after the jump.

Uncontested rom-com queen Katherin Heigl gets tanned, toned and tough to play Jersey girl Stephanie Plum in One for the Money, based on the best-selling series by Janet Evanovich and co-starring Jason O'Mara, John Leguizamo, Debbie Reynolds and Sherri Shepherd.

Plum is not having the best time: she's recently divorced, recently unemployed, is without wheels and coming close to being homeless with bills piling up around her. So she depends on the kindness of her family, specifically her weaselly cousin, to give her work, even if it's chasing down lowlifes who've skipped bail.

And so begins her unlikely turn as a bounty hunter and the first person in her cross-hairs is old fling, and current accused murderer, Joe Morelli (O'Mara) whom she vows to bring in as the game of cat-and-mouse heats up in more ways than one.

We've got a dozen photos of the typically blond Heigl trying her hand as a Veronica in action-comedy One for the Money, hitting theatres January 27.

Go to the slideshow!

The Cineplex.com store boasts over 25,000 titles, from the newest hits to award-winning classics, indie fare and even your favourite TV shows. Come back here every Tuesday to find out what new movies you can BUY or RENT on DVD, Blu-ray or as a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD and how many SCENE points you can earn with each purchase. We make it easy to catch up on all the movies you may have missed or finally start the first season of that series everyone is talking about.

So what are you waiting for?

Get your fill of Hollywood at home with this week's list of the hottest releases.

Much like the Golden Globes, this year's Academy Awards will be rife with the uber-famous since besties Brad and George are both up for acting awards and their movies, Moneyball and The Descendants, will both likely lose to The Artist, but at least they'll have each other to ease the pain of losing. And their millions. And the adoration of legions of fans. Basically, I think they'll survive.

But despite the obvious Oscar frontrunners whose Golden Globes haven't even had a chance to collect dust, the Academy gave props to some films most considered well off the radar and then defiantly turned their sculpted noses at what seemed like obvious must-haves.

It's good to know that in its 84th year, the award-giving institution is still capable of ruffling feathers and yielding a collective "REALLY?" from Tilda Swinton fans. (Quick; fan moniker options: Swintonettes? Swintonians?)

Find out what we thought were the biggest surprises and biggest snubs from the 2012 Oscar nominations.

While the usual suspects were well represented in this morning's Oscar nomination announcement, the Academy threw some curve balls by including less visible contenders like Tinker Tailor Solider Spy, The Tree of Life, Bridesmaids and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, shutting out Steven Spielberg's animated shoe-in The Adventures of Tintin and swapping Tilda Swinton (We Need To Talk about Kevin) for Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) in the Best Actress category.

Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence (your big-screen Katniss Everdeen) was awake and looking statuesque as ever beside Tom Sherak, Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences president, who announced the nominations in the big 10 categories amid sporadic cheers and hollers, notably after Max von Sydow's name was mentioned in the Best Supporting Actor field for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, director Terrence Malick got a deserved nod for The Tree of Life and Gary Oldman finally got his first Oscar nomination EVER (!) for playing George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Find out who else might make their way to the podium.

The French film that bravely chose silence seems to be following in the footsteps of late bloomer The King's Speech, last year's unassuming award-winning biopic that opened with a whisper and went on to gather steam as word-of-mouth and strong reviews propelled it into the minds and hearts of audiences.

The Artist added to its trophy haul by winning the top prize at the Producers Guild Awards ceremony this weekend, positioning itself as a the front-runner for this year's Oscars. And just in time too, since the nominations are being announced Tuesday morning.

The PGA and the Academy have awarded the same film with best picture honours for the past four years, so the odds are certainly stacked in the favour of the black-and-white film walking away a big winner come February 26.

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures was accepted by writer Claude Barri and producer Thomas Langmann, who said of the film's stellar reception, "When [director] Michel [Hazanavicius] and I dreamed of making The Artist, we dreamed of writing a love letter to American cinema. We just didn't know that we would get a taste of the American dream."

Kate Beckinsale is back with a vengeance, with her latest Underworld movie opening in first place this weekend.

Underworld Awakening made an estimated $25.4, distributor Sony Screen Gems reported Sunday.

This is the fourth film in the vampire action saga. Beckinsale starred in the first two movies as the warrior Selene, then bowed out of part three but returned for this latest installment. Underworld Awakening was shown for the first time in 3D as well as on IMAX screens, where it made $3.8 million. That's 15 per cent of the film's weekend gross, which is a record for an IMAX digital-only run.

Rashida Jones was almost upstaged by her famous father, Quincy Jones, at the Sundance premiere of her film, Celeste and Jesse Forever, but the actress and screenwriter didn't mind.

She said the music mogul "is what he is, and always has been and always will be, way before I was here." Her dad loved the film and she feels "lucky to hang out with him."

Still, even with her folks and friends in the audience Friday night, unveiling the film she wrote, produced and stars in was a nerve-racking experience.

It's not often that an actor is able to help tell the same story twice and it's even less often that on their second go-round, a producer of George Lucas' calibre should be the one calling the shots.

But Cuba Gooding Jr. finds himself in that very position for Red Tails, an epic action-adventure that follows heroic African-American pilots who fought during the Second World War amidst institutionalized racism and doubts about their flying abilities, since he first starred in HBO's similarly-themed 1995 TV movie "The Tuskegee Airmen." Gooding Jr. is clearly enthused to be revisiting the story, on a much grander scale mind you, sitting down to answer some questions at Toronto's Hazelton Hotel.

The Oscar winner was friendly and candid, offering his opinion on the well-publicized issues Lucas had with finding a studio that would make an action movie with an all-black cast, including Terrence Howard, Nate Parker and Tristan Wilds, sharing how he prepared for the role of Major Emanuelle Stance and revealing what esteemed on-set visitors had him feeling like a little kid.

Find out what Cuba Gooding Jr. had to say, after the jump.

For the fans who won't have the books to distract them from the wait, have no fear! Lionsgate and Canadian distributor Alliance Films have taken pity and sent along something big to entertain you in the meantime - the final movie one-sheet. The brand new poster premiered on Moviefone and The Huffington Post late last night and everyone's been clamouring for a look. Featuring the trade-mark flaming Mockingjay and a determined, bow-and-arrow toting Jennifer Lawrence (as heroine Katniss Everdean), one thing is for sure - this artwork means business.

Check out the full poster after the jump!

The comedic legend is coming up on his ninth gig as Oscar host and at 63 is still the same loveable, schtick-prone affable goof that first graced the stage in 1990 and traded barbs with a frizzy-haired Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally.... While the nominations are coming up on January 24, and the 84th Oscars set for February 26, the Academy has released an inside look at Billy Crystal getting ready for the big show.

Hot on the heels of Bob Hope, the only person who can boast more time on the Oscars stage, Crystal is clearly delighted to be back and reveals that he still can't believe he's been asked to host at all. Not giving away any details about what audiences can expect from the monologue - a return to coming dressed up as characters in the nominated films, perhaps? - the behind-the-scenes video shows our host posing with Oscar statues, making deadpan jokes and getting amped for the "granddaddy of all award shows."

Watch the video after the jump!

So dig in with our very first look back! This week's edition looks at the Coen brothers, Fellini, the inspiration behind Martin Scorsese's Hugo and more!

From the film's title to its stellar cast - Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon, Judy Greer - to the team of brothers who directed it, Jeff Who Lives at Home is poised to be another off-kilter hit for Jay and Mark Duplass.

The brothers, who also wrote the movie's screenplay, were behind the 2010 dark comedy Cyrus, with Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei and John C. Reilly, and cut their teeth on indie(r) fare like The Puffy Chair. Now, they're back with Jeff, which premiered at last year's TIFF to positive reviews, and finds Segel as a slacker, living, well you know where, who just went to the store to get wood glue, man, and finds his simple task is met with all kind of obstacles, including an unplanned trek with his brother pat (Helms). With Sarandon as the mother and the reliably funny and sweet Segel as the man-child, we're definitely interested in what this comedy has to say about family and finding your way.

The good people at Slashfilm premiered the poster today and we've got the full thing for you, after the jump!

Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper company on Thursday agreed to pay damages to 36 high-profile victims of tabloid phone-hacking, including actor Jude Law, soccer player Ashley Cole and former British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

In the 15 settlements whose financial terms were made public, amounts generally ran into the tens of thousands of pounds (dollars) - although Law received 130,000 pounds (about $200,000) to settle claims against the now-shuttered News of the World tabloid and its sister paper, The Sun.

News Group Newspapers admitted that 16 articles about Law published in the News of the World between 2003 and 2006 had been obtained by phone hacking, and that the actor had also been placed under "repeated and sustained physical surveillance." The company also admitted that articles in The Sun tabloid misused Law's private information - although it didn't go so far as to admit hacking.

In a statement, Law said Murdoch's tabloids had been "prepared to do anything to sell their newspapers and to make money, irrespective of the impact it had on people's lives."

If Oscar buzz is any indicator, Hollywood is on the brink of making Academy Awards history. For the first time, silent films may bookend the best-picture category.

The first, and only, non-talkie to win the motion picture academy's top prize was director William A. Wellman's high-flying 1927 drama Wings, starring Clara Bow and Buddy Rogers.

Now, the 2011 silent film The Artist is gathering some serious award-season momentum as a best picture favorite at the 84th annual Oscar ceremony on February 26. The silent-period valentine from French director Michel Hazanavicius has won numerous honours, including best comedy or musical at Sunday's Golden Globes.

Meanwhile, in a touch of silent symmetry, an extensively restored version of Wings thrilled celebrities and regular folks alike this week at special screenings sponsored by the motion picture academy. And next week, the restored Wings will be released on DVD.

"There's something magical about the movie-going experience that brings people together and evokes great memories in a person's life," said Ellis Jacob, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cineplex Entertainment. "Whether it's their first movie, first date or another significant event, going to the movies today creates just as many memories as it did 100 years ago."

The yearlong celebration begins on January 19, 2012 - National Popcorn Day! To find out more, head behind the cut!

When Hollywood has an unexpected hit on its hands - critical praise, major box office bucks and breakout stars all over the place - instead of savouring the moment and letting those involved reap the rewards by exploring new and hitherto unavailable projects, trying to strike gold again is often the order of business, ahem The Hangover Part II, and the shaky results usually speak for themselves.

From Jon Hamm's sentient opining in September that a sequel probably wouldn't interest Kristen Wiig to director Paul Feig confusing the issue when he told Vanity Fair that "[e]veryone is up for it, and yet it's hard to say. Everyone's very busy right now is one of the problems, and kind of doing their own thing, but we're very open to it," to Melissa McCarthy rightly stating it would a "terrible idea" to go ahead with a sequel if the star and writer wasn't involved, the woman at the centre of it all has finally responded. And, thankfully, Wiig is not interested in doing a Bridesmaids sequel.